kellock71

Wonderful question!

I have saved myself numerous times falling over, tripping, and falling off my dirt bike. One time I was riding a bicycle to the autoparts store with a beer in one hand..I tried going off a curb, and the front wheel accidentally turned sideways, which sent me flying forwards.

Luckily I was able to roll out of it and stand back up to take a sip... then I look over and there's an old man walking a dog staring at me, lol.

Fighting wise, I have not had to use those skills. Fortunately :)

Great question! There's a 2 part answer..

Part 1: Ever since I was about 5 years old I remember deconstructing action movies in my head. I was obsessed with Jackie Chan movies, and when I turned 10 I started reading everything I could find about Bruce Lee's training methods. Bruce Lee motivated me to get into Martial Arts when I was 12, and propelled me to train hard in Parkour when I turned 16.

Part 2: I was studying Architecture at the University of Dundee in Scotland, and spending way too much time making youtube videos with my friends. We were doing parkour videos, action comedy skits, and eventually I stumbled onto an online forum called "Stunt People". The forum was filled with indie stunt performers and filmmakers who were all posting their own fight scenes, and that motivated me to start making some fight scenes also!

I soon found that I had a knack for action.. so I took a year out from college and worked at a call center while continuing making videos (on another channel). Then, one of my friends from my home in Pittsburgh decided to move to Hollywood to be a stuntman, and I followed him on a whim! Saved up money for 3 months, and moved out here.

Best decision I've ever made :)

I did see that!! Sam did a wonderful job, and I even learned some stuff from him! That guy is amazing, and is one of my biggest inspirations. (He was the first stuntman I ever met, when he doubled Joel Edgerton on a movie called Warrior, in Pittsburgh)

To answer your question: Other than camera work, you are relying on the actors and performers who are around the actor. Just like Sam mentioned in his breakdown, it is the whole team working together to "play to the angle" that sells the action.

Also, if you're hypothetically one of the stunt performers on the outside of a multiple person fight, your #1 job is to make the actor look good.

More stuff to help sell stunts: Sam basically covered it.. hiding pads everywhere you can, using VFX to remove pads and wires. I've also seen some people use a little baby powder to make a kick that connects look good!

Another cool trick is for those slo-mo face punch closeups. You can start 2 inches away from the face, and punch through without much force but it will look just as good :) (if you can picture Rocky..though I'm not sure if that's how they did it in Rocky per se)

Old School Stuntmen are hardcore. They came up in a time when you had no choice, but just had to DO THE THING. That still exists today, and you won't make it far without an "yes, I'll do that sir" attitude.. but I feel like us up-and-comers have it way easier due to the use of CG and VFX which can help hide pads, wires, etc.

As far as stunt skills and CG. I haven't done much motion capture work myself, but I have some friends that do it regularly.. basically, all CG still needs a "controller" which is a stunt performer in a mo-cap suit. And as such, those guys spend a lot of time training to move like animals and creatures. A friend of mine doubled Maugli in the Jungle Book. He said it was just months and months of green screen motion capture work... when doing motion capture, you get to fall on pads more often (because they're green), but you're in that suit cranking out takes all day.

Nice one!

I have been very fortunate so far (knocks on wood) and have been able to do my job safely for the most part.

The worst injury I've ever gotten from stunts was when I first moved out to LA. I made some other newbie stunt friends and a group of us (like 10 guys) decided to do an underground style fight scene/short film. So we found a location, which was an under-construction parkour gym..

The place where they were going to install the "foam pit" was still empty, and looked like a fighting pen.. so we covered the floor in cardboard to make it look "hard". In retrospection, I wish we'd have put 1 inch mats under all of the cardboard..

Anyways, I was doing a move where I do a spin hook kick and my opponent comes under and sweeps my leg out from under me, which sends me flying. I practiced it on a sprung floor perfectly, but my newbie brain forgot to realize I was now on concrete.. anyways, I freaked out in the air and came straight down on my shoulder. It separated for a second, then went back to normal.

I had to finish the fight scene though, so I was just wildly swinging my arm around.. when I went home, I put it in a sling and iced it.. then I couldn't lift my arm past shoulder height for about a week, until I went to Hot Yoga for 7 straight days. That stuff works MIRACLES!!

Full movement is now restored in my shoulder (luckily) and it has been 6 years since that incident.

Thanks for the question!! (My 2nd worst injury story isn't as cool..)